Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is Mina Murray’s best friend and Count Dracula’s first English victim. Lucy Westenra is a 19-year old woman, “blonde, demure, and waiting for the right man to come along to marry her”. She is, however, not a passive woman, and clearly expresses her sexual desires: she has three suitors, and writes to her friend Mina that she would like to marry all of them. All three propose to her on the same day—Arthur Holmwood, the wealthy son of Lord Godalming; Quincey Morris, an American adventurer; and Dr. John Seward, a psychiatrist—and she chooses Holmwood. She is prone to sleepwalking and is attacked by Dracula, who gradually drains her of her blood until it eventually proves fatal. In her final moments, her vampiric side emerges and nearly tries to bite Arthur, but Lucy regains her human senses and before dying asks Abraham Van Helsing to protect Holmwood, which he does. A week after her burial Lucy rises from the grave as a vampire, attacking children, which Van Helsing identifies by the telltale bite marks on their necks and the timing of her death and the start of the attacks. She is then confronted and eventually destroyed by Van Helsing and her suitors, allowing her to rest in peace. Lucy’s death and subsequent transformation as a vampire motivate her suitors and Mina to join forces with Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker in hunting Dracula in retaliation.
First Publisher Archibald Constable and Company (UK)
Appearance List Eerie #12, Dracula (play) and Dracula (novel). Bram Stoker’s Dracula originally appeared as a stage play on May 18, 1897 (which only two people attended). The (much-more famous) novel was released eight days later.
Description Lucy Westenra is a fictional character in the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. She is Mina Murray’s best friend and Count Dracula’s first English victim. Lucy Westenra is a 19-year old woman, “blonde, demure, and waiting for the right man to come along to marry her”. She is, however, not a passive woman, and clearly expresses her sexual desires: she has three suitors, and writes to her friend Mina that she would like to marry all of them. All three propose to her on the same day—Arthur Holmwood, the wealthy son of Lord Godalming; Quincey Morris, an American adventurer; and Dr. John Seward, a psychiatrist—and she chooses Holmwood. She is prone to sleepwalking and is attacked by Dracula, who gradually drains her of her blood until it eventually proves fatal. In her final moments, her vampiric side emerges and nearly tries to bite Arthur, but Lucy regains her human senses and before dying asks Abraham Van Helsing to protect Holmwood, which he does. A week after her burial Lucy rises from the grave as a vampire, attacking children, which Van Helsing identifies by the telltale bite marks on their necks and the timing of her death and the start of the attacks. She is then confronted and eventually destroyed by Van Helsing and her suitors, allowing her to rest in peace. Lucy’s death and subsequent transformation as a vampire motivate her suitors and Mina to join forces with Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker in hunting Dracula in retaliation.
